Keyword: geologyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/tag/geology/
en-usWed, 23 Nov 2016 19:45:55 GMTFocus Forum15Why Do So Many Big Earthquakes Strike Japan?http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3497690/posts
A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck yesterday off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, likely along the same fault that ruptured in 2011, unleashing a massive 9.0-magnitude temblor that triggered deadly tsunamis and caused widespread destruction. Over the course of its history, Japan has seen its share of shaking, but what makes this part of the world so susceptible to big earthquakes? The answer has to do with Japan&#x27;s location. The island nation lies along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an imaginary horseshoe-shaped zone that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where many of the world&#x27;s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur....Live Sciencehttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3497690/posts#commentWed, 23 Nov 2016 19:45:55 GMTRip in crust drives undersea volcanismhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3494965/posts
Scientists analyzing a volcanic eruption at a mid-ocean ridge under the Pacific have come up with a somewhat contrarian explanation for what initiated it. Many scientists say undersea volcanism is triggered mainly by upwelling magma that reaches a critical pressure and forces its way up. The new study says the dominant force, at least in this case, was the seafloor itself -- basically that it ripped itself open, allowing the lava to spill out. The eruption took place on the East Pacific Rise, some 700 miles off Mexico. &#x22;Mid-ocean ridges are commonly viewed as seafloor volcanoes, operating like volcanoes on...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3494965/posts#commentWed, 16 Nov 2016 16:01:44 GMTPopcorn-rocks solve the mystery of the magma chambershttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3488624/posts
Since the 18th century, geologists have struggled to explain how big magma chambers form in Earth&#x27;s crust. In particular, it has been difficult to explain where the surrounding rock goes when the magma intrudes. Now a team of researchers from Uppsala University and the Goethe University in Frankfurt have found the missing rocks -- and they look nothing like what they expected. Researchers have previously proposed that the roofs and walls of magma chamber were either melted and assimilated into the magma, or that they would sink to the bottom of the magma chamber. However, enough evidence for either of...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3488624/posts#commentThu, 3 Nov 2016 14:41:36 GMTTourists refused to flee erupting volcano so they could keep taking photoshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3476761/posts
Tourists in Indonesia ignored instructions to flee an erupting volcano so they could continue taking photos, the country&#x92;s disaster agency has said. Mount Barujari, part of the Mount Rinjani National Park on the island of Lombok, erupted without warning last Tuesday, ejecting a column of ash two kilometres into the sky that subsequently delayed flights to and from nearby Bali. Indonesia&#x92;s Disaster Mitigation Agency quickly moved to evacuate the 1,023 tourists, including 639 foreigners, that were in the park at the time. It claims, however, that many refused to leave the mountain, in some cases even hiding from officials, so...Telegraphhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3476761/posts#commentWed, 5 Oct 2016 00:43:41 GMTLife in ancient oceans enabled by erosion from landhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3474174/posts
As scientists continue finding evidence for life in the ocean more than 3 billion years ago, those ancient fossils pose a paradox. Organisms, including the single-celled bacteria living in the ocean at that early date, need a steady supply of phosphorus, but &#x22;it&#x27;s very hard to account for this phosphorus unless it is eroding from the continents,&#x22; says Aaron Satkoski, a scientist in the geoscience department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. &#x22;So that makes it really hard to explain the fossils we see at this early era.&#x22; Satkoski, who is first author of a new report on ocean chemistry from...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3474174/posts#commentTue, 27 Sep 2016 21:27:11 GMTOxygen levels were key to early animal evolution, strongest evidence now showshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3472798/posts
It has long puzzled scientists why, after 3 billion years of nothing more complex than algae, complex animals suddenly started to appear on Earth. Now, a team of researchers has put forward some of the strongest evidence yet to support the hypothesis that high levels of oxygen in the oceans were crucial for the emergence of skeletal animals 550 million years ago. The new study is the first to distinguish between bodies of water with low and high levels of oxygen. It shows that poorly oxygenated waters did not support the complex life that evolved immediately prior to the Cambrian...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3472798/posts#commentFri, 23 Sep 2016 22:50:31 GMTForget what you thought dinosaurs looked like &#x97; this adorable bird&#x96;lizard just changed the gamehttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3470102/posts
Paleontologists have teamed up with a paleoartist to create a model which challenges everything you thought you knew about the typical dinosaur. Dr. Jacob Vinther ofa Psittacosaurus &#x97; nicknamed a &#x22;parrot-lizard&#x22; &#x97; is about the size of a turkey, has bristles on its tail and a birdlike beak. In other words, a bit weird, but also pretty cute. It&#x27;s also quite likely that the animal had feathers and a horn on each cheek, the experts say. Quite aptly, Psittacosaurus belongs to the group ceratopsians, which basically means &#x22;horned faces&#x22; in Greek. It&#x27;s the same group that contains Triceratops. The scientists...Business Insiderhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3470102/posts#commentFri, 16 Sep 2016 18:45:38 GMTMagma accumulation highlights growing threat from Japanese volcanohttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3469369/posts
A research team led by the University of Bristol has found magma build-up beneath Japan&#x27;s Aira caldera and Sakurajima volcano may indicate a growing threat to Kagoshima city and its 600,000 inhabitants. Sakurajima is one of Japan&#x27;s most active volcanoes with small, localised eruptions nearly every day, but the history of the volcano is even more ferocious. In 1914, a large explosive eruption killed 58 people and caused widespread flooding in the adjacent city of Kagoshima as the ground subsided due to the withdrawal of magma from the subsurface. Continued measurements of the ground movement since that eruption show that...University of Bristolhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3469369/posts#commentWed, 14 Sep 2016 18:22:57 GMTLife thrived on young Earth: scientists discover 3.7-billion-year-old fossilshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3464829/posts
In an extraordinary find, a team of Australian researchers have uncovered the world&#x27;s oldest fossils in a remote area of Greenland, capturing the earliest history of the planet and demonstrating that life on Earth emerged rapidly in the planet&#x27;s early years. Led by the University of Wollongong&#x27;s (UOW) Professor Allen Nutman, the team discovered 3.7-billion-year-old stromatolite fossils in the world&#x27;s oldest sedimentary rocks, in the Isua Greenstone Belt along the edge of Greenland&#x27;s icecap. The findings are outlined in a study published in Nature, with co-authors Associate Professor Vickie Bennett from The Australian National University (ANU), the University of New...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3464829/posts#commentWed, 31 Aug 2016 23:24:39 GMTEvidence from China shows how plants colonized the landhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458344/posts
New fossil finds from China push back the origins of deep soils by 20 million years, new research has uncovered. This is a key part of the stepwise conquest of the land and transformation of the continents, researchers from the universities of Peking and Bristol have discovered. One of the greatest transitions in Earth history was the greening of the land. Up to 450 million years ago, there was no life outside water, and the land surface was a rocky landscape. Without plants there were no soils, and the rocky landscape eroded fast. Then the first tiny plants crept out...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3458344/posts#commentWed, 10 Aug 2016 17:15:05 GMTIllustrating Geology: Great images that transformed the fieldhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3454909/posts
Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of what many consider the greatest geologic image ever produced: William Smith&#x92;s epic map, entitled &#x93;A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales with Part of Scotland.&#x94; In striking color, scale and detail, the 1815 map laid bare the region&#x92;s bedrock &#x97; from tilted layers of slate and fossil-rich marls and sandstones to Carboniferous coal seams and granite plugs &#x97; as none had before. The bicentennial of the map&#x92;s publication was commemorated in several sessions and displays at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Baltimore...Earthhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3454909/posts#commentSun, 31 Jul 2016 14:47:42 GMTRare Earthquake Strikes Off the Coast of Floridahttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3450243/posts
A small but rare earthquake struck about 100 miles off Daytona Beach, Florida, in the Atlantic Ocean, reports the Associated Press. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck around 4 p.m. Saturday. There are no reports of damage or that it was felt on land. ...The USGS says earthquakes of less than magnitude 5.4 rarely cause damage. There are about 930,000 such quakes recorded worldwide each year or about 2,500 per day. According to the Florida&#x92;s Department Environmental Protection, the sunshine state sits on a section of the North American Plate that is less active than...weather.comhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3450243/posts#commentSun, 17 Jul 2016 19:02:52 GMTDid a supernova two million years ago brighten the night sky and give our ancestors cancer?http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3441333/posts
Millions of years ago, a series of nearby supernovae sent radiation and debris raining down to Earth. The events left traces of radioactive iron-60 embedded in the sea floor and even on the Moon, and now, researchers are saying they may have had life-altering effects on the early inhabitants of our planet. At just hundreds of light-years away, two major stellar explosions may have spurred changes to the environment, and even increased the rates of cancer and mutation.Daily Mailhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3441333/posts#commentFri, 17 Jun 2016 23:22:29 GMTLarge-scale motion detected near San Andreas Fault Systemhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3442314/posts
The top diagram shows the lobes of movement, uplift in red and subsidence in blue, found using GPS data, while the botom diagram shows the lobes predicted by an earthquake simulation model. Image by University of Hawaii, Manoa =============================================================================================== HONOLULU, June 20 (UPI) -- Analysis of GPS data has revealed new areas of motion around the San Andreas Fault System. Using data collected by the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory&#x27;s GPS array, researchers identified 125-mile-wide &#x22;lobes&#x22; of uplift and subsidence. Over the last several years, the lobes, which straddle the fault line, have hosted a few millimeters of annual movement. Computer...UPIhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3442314/posts#commentTue, 21 Jun 2016 16:53:56 GMTMarine life quickly recovered after global mass extinctionhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3441207/posts
Reptiles rapidly invaded the seas soon after a global extinction wiped out most life on Earth, according to a new study led by University of California, Davis, researchers. Global climate change -- likely triggered by massive volcanic eruptions -- killed off more than 95 percent of all species about 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. Land reptiles colonized the ocean in just 3.35 million years at the beginning of the Triassic, a speedy recovery in geologic time, the researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports. &#x22;Our results fit with the emerging view that the recovery...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3441207/posts#commentFri, 17 Jun 2016 16:19:33 GMTClimate change mitigation: Turning carbon dioxide into rockhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3439444/posts
An international team of scientists have found a potentially viable way to remove anthropogenic (caused or influenced by humans) carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere -- turn it into rock. The study, published in Science, has shown for the first time that the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) can be permanently and rapidly locked away from the atmosphere, by injecting it into volcanic bedrock. The CO2 reacts with the surrounding rock, forming environmentally benign minerals. Measures to tackle the problem of increasing greenhouse gas emissions and resultant climate change are numerous. One approach is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), where...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3439444/posts#commentSun, 12 Jun 2016 22:21:39 GMTDeep &#x27;scars&#x27; from ancient geological events play role in current earthquakeshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3438956/posts
Super-computer modelling of Earth&#x27;s crust and upper-mantle suggests that ancient geologic events may have left deep &#x27;scars&#x27; that can come to life to play a role in earthquakes, mountain formation, and other ongoing processes on our planet. This changes the widespread view that only interactions at the boundaries between continent-sized tectonic plates could be responsible for such events. A team of researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Aberdeen have created models indicating that former plate boundaries may stay hidden deep beneath the Earth&#x27;s surface. These multi-million-year-old structures, situated at sites away from existing plate boundaries, may...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3438956/posts#commentFri, 10 Jun 2016 23:36:30 GMTThe most dangerous fault in Americahttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3437720/posts
Last summer, a startling article appeared in The New Yorker magazine outlining what could happen to the Pacific Northwest in the event of a large earthquake resulting from a full rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. As recently as 1700, this convergent zone produced an earthquake estimated at magnitude 9. The article attracted a great deal of attention, especially among people who had never heard of the possibility that the heavily populated Pacific Northwest could, in a geologic moment, become &#x93;toast&#x94; &#x97; as someone quoted in the article put it. The San Francisco Bay Area also suffers from the unfortunate...Earthhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3437720/posts#commentTue, 7 Jun 2016 15:52:55 GMTHere are the world&#x92;s top 10 gold producing mineshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3437693/posts
Gold output across the globe hit an all-time high in 2015, climbing 1.8 percent to 3,211 tonnes. Much of this growth was led by Mexico, whose output increased double digits (18 percent) from 112 tonnes in 2014 to 133 tonnes last year. Indonesia grew 20 percent, Kazakhstan 29 percent. This year, global production is expected to level out as project development budgets were slashed during the three-year gold bear market. But with gold prices rebounding, miners are in a good position to be much more profitable. Below, explore and discover the world&#x92;s top 10 gold producing mines.Mining.comhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3437693/posts#commentTue, 7 Jun 2016 14:26:42 GMTSupervolcanoes like Yellowstone may have been more active in the pasthttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3436892/posts
Magma located under areas that include the Yellowstone region and the western margin of North and South America can erupt violently, spewing vast quantities of ash into the air, followed by slower flows of glassy, viscous magma. [A] new study by University of Wyoming researchers suggests scientists can go back to the past to study present-day solidified magma chambers where the erosion has removed overlying rock, exposing granite underpinnings. One such large granite body, the 2.62 billion-year-old Wyoming batholith, extends more than 125 miles across central Wyoming. University of Wyoming earth scientist Davin Bagdonas traversed the Granite, Shirley and Laramie...National Science Foundationhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3436892/posts#commentSat, 4 Jun 2016 18:13:08 GMTVolcanic activity worldwide 1 Jun 2016:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3436232/posts
Volcanic activity worldwide 1 Jun 2016: Colima volcano, Bromo, Semeru, Dukono, Turrialba, Nyiragongo...Volcano Discovery Bloghttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3436232/posts#commentThu, 2 Jun 2016 19:33:24 GMTArchaeologists and geographers team to predict locations of ancient Buddhist sites [Ashoka&#x27;s Edicts]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3435583/posts
For archaeologists and historians interested in the ancient politics, religion and language of the Indian subcontinent, two UCLA professors and their student researchers have creatively pinpointed sites that are likely to yield valuable transcriptions of the proclamations of Ashoka, the Buddhist king of northern India&#x27;s Mauryan Dynasty who ruled from 304 B.C. to 232 B.C. In a study published this week in Current Science, archaeologist Monica Smith and geographer Thomas Gillespie identified 121 possible locations of what are known as Ashoka&#x27;s &#x22;edicts.&#x22; First they isolated shared features of 29 known locations of Ashokan edicts, which were found carved into natural...UCLAhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3435583/posts#commentTue, 31 May 2016 22:51:48 GMTLooking for a geologist.http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3432544/posts
Looking for a geologist with knowledge of Oklahoma in general and specifically the area surrounding Fort Sill.Request for infohttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3432544/posts#commentSat, 21 May 2016 02:32:16 GMTScientists find likely cause for recent southeast U.S. earthquakeshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3431342/posts
The southeastern United States should, by all means, be relatively quiet in terms of seismic activity. It&#x92;s located in the interior of the North American Plate, far away from plate boundaries where earthquakes usually occur. But the area has seen some notable seismic events &#x96; most recently, the 2011 magnitude-5.8 earthquake near Mineral, Virginia that shook the nation&#x92;s capital. Now, scientists report in a new study a likely explanation for this unusual activity: pieces of the mantle under this region have been periodically breaking off and sinking down into the Earth. This thins and weakens the remaining plate, making it...AGU Blogospherehttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3431342/posts#commentTue, 17 May 2016 14:44:53 GMTClues to ancient giant asteroid found in Australiahttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3431046/posts
Scientists have found evidence of a huge asteroid that struck the Earth early in its life with an impact larger than anything humans have experienced. Tiny glass beads called spherules, found in north-western Australia were formed from vaporised material from the asteroid impact, said Dr Andrew Glikson from The Australian National University (ANU). &#x22;The impact would have triggered earthquakes orders of magnitude greater than terrestrial earthquakes, it would have caused huge tsunamis and would have made cliffs crumble,&#x22; said Dr Glikson, from the ANU Planetary Institute. &#x22;Material from the impact would have spread worldwide. These spherules were found in sea...Science Dailyhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3431046/posts#commentMon, 16 May 2016 15:53:57 GMT